Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1986 [PAGE 175]

EXTRACTED TEXT FROM PAGE:

164

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[February 21

EXECUTIVE SESSION

President Shepherd, referring to Section Two of the Open Meetings Act, stated: "A motion is now in order to hold an executive session to consider information regarding the appointment, employment, or dismissal of employees or officers, and to discuss pending, probable, or imminent litigation against or on behalf of the University and to discuss the acquisition of real property." The motion was made by Mr. Forsyth and approved unanimously.

Settlement of Grudek, Catherine A., ef a/., vs. Sigel, ef a/.

(1) This is a medical malpractice case pending in the Circuit Court of Cook County (Case # 8 3 - L - 3 7 1 0 ) . The deceased, Bruce Grudek, was a 29-year-old, morbidly obese person who weighed 470 pounds in 1982. He is survived by his wife, Catherine (age 31) and three children. Mr. Grudek's weight was diagnosed as a serious threat to his health and life. When admitted to the University Hospital, he had a history of hearing loss, dizziness, blurring of vision, and nose bleeds. He could no longer support himself and needed crutches and a wheelchair. He was psychologically incapable of controlling his diet. It was decided to perform a banded gastroplasty, a surgical procedure by which the stomach is reduced. One of the inherent dangers of this procedure is the perforation of the esophagus. The patient was informed of this risk. On June 3, 1982, Dr. Raymond Pollak, senior resident, performed the surgery. Dr. Bernard Sigel, the attending physician, assisted. During the course of surgery, the lower end of the esophagus was perforated. However, it went unnoticed. Two days after surgery, Mr. Grudek developed a temperature which was thought to be related to an infection in the urinary tract. On June 6, 1982, it became clear that the temperature was caused by an internal infection. Dr. Sigel opened up Mr. Grudek, and the perforation in the esophagus was located and repaired. However, Mr. Grudek failed to recover and died on June 8, 1982. Dr. Edward Mason was consulted as an expert witness. He is a professor at the University of Iowa and is the foremost expert on the surgical procedure of banded gastroplasty. He made three points: (1) the perforation of the esophagus can occur without negligence, but recent developments in the procedure have gone far into eliminating this risk; (2) immediately after the procedure, and before closing the incision, the esophagus and the stomach should have been pressurized with liquid to test for perforation; and (3) the standard of practice was breached for delaying the second surgery until the seventh when the record reflects that it should have been done on the evening of the fifth. A reserve of $100,000 was placed on the case under the self-insurance program. Excess insurance coverage exists with Beacon Insurance Company for losses in excess of $100,000. Our outside counsel, Baker and McKenzie, has advised that Beacon Insurance Company is anxious to settle this before the pretrial conference on February 22, 1985. The vice president for business and finance, upon the advice of the university counsel, recommends that authority be granted to settle this matter and to expend an amount not to exceed $100,000 (including costs of defense) from the University's Risk Management account for that purpose. I concur.

On motion of Mr. Howard, this recommendation was approved by the following vote: Aye, Mrs. Day, Mr. Forsyth, Mrs. Gravenhorst, Mr.